Voices of Spike Brandt, Lincoln Melcher, JP Karliak, and Jess Harnell
Directed by Spike Brandt
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
Yes, this is the other movie Warner Bros developed to keep the rights to the Wonka franchise. Hanna-Barbara had been plopping the cat and mouse duo into a series of increasingly strange crossovers with fairy tales or other Warners properties like Sherlock Holmes and The Wizard of Oz (twice) since 2002. How well do they work in the story of five children who find golden tickets and get the right to explore a fantastic candy factory and meet its reclusive owner? Let's begin exactly the same as the original film, with the kids running to the local candy shop for Wonka bars, and find out...
The Story: Tom (Brandt) and Jerry (Brandt) are hungry street critters who badly want a bar of chocolate. So does poor but honest newsboy Charlie Buckett (Melcher), who stops Tom from eating Jerry and stealing a box of chocolate bars. Charlie's Grandpa Joe (Harnell) tells them about how the reclusive Willy Wonka (Karliak) shut his factory to avoid spies who wanted to steal his chocolate recipes.
Everyone is shocked when Wonka announces that whomever finds five golden tickets in his chocolate bars will get a lifetime supply of chocolate and to visit the factory. Tom and Jerry do manage to make money to buy a bar of chocolate, but Charlie ends up with the coin and the last winning bar. To the trio's horror, they discover that rival chocolate factory owner Mr. Slugworth (Mick Wingert) intends to use the children to steal Wonka's secret recipes. With the help of assistant Oompa-Loompa Tuffy (Kath Soucie), the cat and the mouse follow Charlie into the factory and dodge its many wonders to tell Wonka about his rival's plot.
The Animation: It looks like what it is - a direct-to-home-media version of a live-action film. It's colorful and cute, and the characters move well enough. Some of the locations are also recreated fairly well, and there's a few attempts to make a cat and mouse sized version of Wonka's world that's good for a few chuckles.
The Song and Dance: This isn't a great movie - or even a good one - but there are a few things that work. I appreciate that we actually see Slugworth get punished for lying and leading everyone around by the nose (even if it was on his boss' orders) and Veruca for behaving so badly, especially given in the original book, the worst that happens to Veruca is getting covered in garbage. Tom and Jerry do have a few funny gags, notably when they're trying to earn money for that chocolate bar and get into the factory.
Favorite Number: As in the original movie, we open with Bill the candy store owner (Harnell) singing "The Candy Man" while he sells the local kids Wonka bars. Tom and Jerry spend the number chasing each other and the bar of chocolate Jerry has. We hear "I Want It Now" twice. Slugworth sings it the first time in a rather freaky sequence when he's trying to force Tom, Jerry, and Charlie into helping him get Wonka's secrets. Veruca sings it later in the goose room when she's whining because her Wonka won't sell her father one of the chocolate egg-laying poultry.
Grandpa Joe and Charlie are joined by Tom and Jerry for their rollicking "I've Got a Golden Ticket." Wonka sings "Pure Imagination" as Tom and Jerry try to dodge everyone eating their way through the Chocolate Room and Wonka describes the delights they're experiencing. "Pure Imagination" returns in the finale as everyone - including Tom and Jerry - find a way to fly home.
What I Don't Like: This movie is exactly what it was made to be - a cheap cash-grab placeholder. Tom and Jerry are inserted awkwardly into a story that isn't theirs and a world where they simply don't fit. Their gags don't work with this whimsical franchise, and the plot isn't crying out for comic relief animals. In fact, we barely get to see the other kids besides Veruca or the parents because the movie is too busy focusing on the cat and mouse antics, which means we don't care like we should when they vanish. We don't see the all-important contract signing sequence, either, though Wonka refers to it in the end. Not to mention, there's still the problem with the solution to the Slugworth side plot being rather anti-climatic. Wingert's annoyingly over-the-top performance makes it even worse.
The Big Finale: I can understand why this is Warners' last attempt to cross Tom and Jerry with a another franchise to date and their last direct-to-home-media movie with the characters until 2022. Even more than most of the other Tom and Jerry direct-to-home-media crossovers, this is totally unnecessary and is only for their most ardent fans. Everyone else would be fine with the three live-action Wonka films.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, often for under $10.
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